Kirsten Comes to Visit: Lamia, Greece

Getting from Athens to Lamia was quite the dilemma. Our ferry from Santorini got in to Athens about 5 minutes before the last train to Lamia left- the last one was at midnight and then the next one wasn't until 5am! We made sure to be the first off the ship, and we ran across the street to the train station, but we were too late :/ We took the train over to another station, where the 5am train would leave from. By the time we got there it was 1am so we thought we could just sleep there, but after sitting in the rock-hard chairs and realizing it probably wasn't the safest idea, we booked a hotel within walking distance and slept for a few hours before walking back to the train station.

We finally got to Lamia, where Rusty and his trainer were waiting to pick us up! Running on such little sleep was starting to catch up to us, so we took a short nap. Kirsten had her own little twin size blow up mattress next to our bed haha. My friend was nice enough to let us borrow it. I was happy I didn't have to buy one just to leave it in Greece a couple weeks later.

That night we went to Rusty's volleyball game- with hopes that they would lose. I know that sounds crazy, but if they lost, Rusty's season would be over and since we had already bought him a ticket to go with us to Italy a couple days later, we were hoping the season would end. Luckily our prayers were answered because we lost haha. Most of Rusty's teammates had told us they wanted the season to be over too and I think it showed during the game, but hey! I'm not complaining :) 

After the game, we went out to eat at Coyote, one of our favorite restaurants, and then gave Kirsten a taste of the Greek nightlife. We joined all of Rusty's teammates at Central, a coffee shop/bar that becomes like a club at night. My friend Patty works there and was bartending that night, so she prepared shots of pineapple juice for Rusty, Kirsten, and me haha.

The next day Kirsten, Rusty, Rusty's teammate Nikitas, and I went to the hot springs. We relaxed for a while and then drove up the road, to see the Leonidas Monument, which is where the 300 Spartan soldiers fought. Looking back, it was cool that we had those things so close to us.

I loved having Kirsten in Greece! Not only did I have a girlfriend to do things with, but I finally got to show her around the place we had been living for the past seven and a half months. The hardest part of living out of the country is not getting to see family or friends. Of course we try to make friends wherever we are, but we still miss our friends and family back in America, so I was so excited to have her there.

The next day the three of us took a train back down to Athens for our flight to Italy!!

Last Minute Trip to Athens

So a few weeks ago, Rusty and I were going about our business when we heard a buzz from the phone in our apt...someone was downstairs wanting to come in and since we weren't expecting anyone, I just assumed it was a repair or delivery man pressing random apt buttons until he got let in (that happens pretty frequently). But when Rusty answered the phone, it was a lady speaking English with an British accent, so we pressed the button to let her in and up came two missionaries!

As I have mentioned before, most people in Lamia have never even heard of the Mormon church, so having missionaries show up to our apt was a pretty exciting thing for us. It was Brother and Sister Manning, who were on their way from Athens to Thessaloniki to speak in church the next day. Our Mormon friends in Athens let them know we were in Lamia (Thanks Jess!) and somehow they found us, without having our address or phone number, which was especially surprising, considering that we can't even mail things directly to us- we have to use the address of the cafe we live above because our apartments do not have an address number. 

They let us know Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was coming to speak in Athens the following weekend. We weren't sure if we would be able to go- actually Rusty knew he wouldn't be able to make it because he had a game in Syros, an island, that weekend, and I kept going back and forth about traveling down there by myself. 

The day before Elder Christofferson was speaking in Athens, we were out to lunch with our friends and they told us they would be leaving to Athens in a couple hours, so my dilemma was over! I could just ride with them! I rushed home and quickly got ready. Two hours may seem like plenty of time to get ready, but I am not as spontaneous as I would like to be, so for me it was a little stressful haha. I felt so unprepared...Good thing I have had months to plan my trip to Italy, the itinerary I typed up is really gonna come in handy ;) But anyways, I said goodbye to Rusty who was leaving to Syros the next day, and drove down to Athens with my friend Eleni, her boyfriend Vasilis, and one of their friends who is from Athens, but is going to school here in Lamia. 

For the first part of the trip I stayed at Eleni's parent's house. The day after we arrived, Eleni and I went with Vasilis and his brother Dimitris to the center of Athens.  We visited a small museum of tools and then went to a cafe, where we sat on the roof, which over looked the countless white buildings of Athens, and part of the Parthenon. During the couple days I stayed with Eleni, we hung out at her house, went out to eat, and took her dog, Bob, on a walk a few times. For one of the walks, we drove up a nearby mountain, went on a short hike, and got to see another great view- all the way out to the harbor.

The next evening, Eleni and Vasilis dropped me off at the church. Luckily, I had a card from the Mannings that had the address of the church and a small map. I don't think I have ever been as excited to see a church building. Surprisingly, I recognized a lot of people there. Many people had come down from Thessaloniki- the only ward we have been to here. Considering Thessaloniki is about five hours from Athens, it made me feel guilty for thinking two and a half hours was a lot to travel. 

Church Selfie...but how cool is the church sign in Greek?

Of course Elder Christofferson's talk was amazing. He told us that the last time an apostle had come to Greece was in 1985, almost 30 years ago! I feel so blessed that I was able to be here in Greece while he came to visit and speak, and I even got to meet him and his wife after the conference was over. It was such a special experience and is something I will always remember.

On Saturday night, I stayed at the Wilcox's- who we met through the church- and Facebook, of course. I love how, through the church,  you can move somewhere- even across the world, and you just automatically have connections. Back in September, when we first arrived in Greece, my mom sent me the contact information for the ward leaders in Athens. I e-mailed one of them- Josh, to see if there were any wards closer to Lamia. His wife Jess and I became friends on Facebook and started messaging back and forth. Randomly, Rusty and I ran into their family near the Parthenon when we visited Athens back in November. I recognized them just through Facebook pictures haha. It was great we could finally meet them in person. 

This past weekend, they were nice enough to let me stay at their house. It was so nice to be staying at a family's home, especially who were American, and they have the cutest daughters. It reminded me of home and made me even more excited for getting back to see my family, which by the way, will be in a couple weeks! We should be back around April 25th!

Sunday morning, we went to church. I gave the closing prayer in Sacrament. I'm glad that Rusty and I have both been able to participate in church while we've been out here (he blessed the Sacrament in Thessaloniki). I guess it's not surprising though since the wards are so small here, but still, I am happy we had the opportunity. Sunday night, Rusty's team was coming into Athens from Syros. They didn't get in til about 10:30pm, but I decided to wait for him, so we could ride back to Lamia together. Luckily, Jess was nice enough to drop me off at the train station so late. Throughout the weekend it was a little difficult to communicate with Rusty because I didn't have wifi at Eleni's house and we only have one Greek phone, so Rusty would have to borrow a teammates phone to call me, so we were especially happy to be reunited. We took the midnight train back to Lamia and finally made it home at about 3am!

Oh and Lamia lost to Syros in five sets, but Rusty had his best game of the season- 21 points! (2 blocks, 2 aces, and 17 kills, hitting 77%) woot, woot!

Kirsten Comes to Visit: Athens

Kirsten came to visit Greece and I could not have been more excited!

When she did study abroad in New Zealand a couple years ago, I met her out there and she showed me around New Zealand and then we traveled around Australia together. It was my turn to show her around Greece and then travel around Italy! I must admit, the planning part of our travels stressed me out because it was difficult to plan ahead. There were so many unknowns- when Rusty's last volleyball game would be, whether Kirsten and I should wait for Rusty to go to Santorini- but we couldn't wait too long cause we also had Italy, where we would stay- but everything ended up working out perfectly!

The day before Kirsten arrived, Rusty had a game in Athens. The president of the volleyball team said I could ride down there with the team, which was a relief since the President had told Rusty I couldn't travel with the team anymore (we don't care for the president, but that's a whole different story). So anyways, after Rusty's game, Rusty's trainer's parents dropped us off at the McDonald's in the center of Athens. We hung out there for a while and then booked a hotel online that was within walking distance.

The next morning we met up with, Costas, Rusty's manager, and his girlfriend Elena to go pick up Kirsten! I was so excited! Kirsten was finally in Greece and our adventures were about to begin! We arrived and saw Kirsten standing outfront. It felt like we had just seen each other, even though it had been seven months!

We hung out with Costas and Elena until about 7pm because we were staying at the Wilcox's that night and they were getting back from their vacation around then. Our day was spent going from one restaurant or coffee shop to another, so Kirsten really got a taste of the Greek lifestyle :)...but poor thing was so tired she ended up falling asleep at one place for about an hour!

We got to the Wilcox's tired, but happy to be there. They were so nice (again!) to let us stay. Jess's mom was in town visiting and they were leaving to America in a couple days. If I think preparing to travel for myself is stressful, I can only imagine how stressful it is to prepare for two children as well- so we owe them for letting us stay there!

The next day, Rusty had to leave back to Lamia for practice, but Kirsten and I spent the day touring Athens. We visited the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, a beautiful church, and went souvenir shopping. After a long day of walking, we got back to the Wilcox's and prepared to leave to Santorini early the next morning!...

Loved their big braids